


Five Years

by ArielFabulous



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArielFabulous/pseuds/ArielFabulous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which things get real for the boys very quickly, and Harry and Louis make a pact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Years

“Five Years.” 

“….what?”

All of them said it at the same time. It had been days after they had signed their record deal, and one direction was having a meeting with Simon Cowell. They had already started recording their album, and the dizzying emotional and almost literal rollercoaster of their lives as members of One Direction came to a screeching halt from two words. Simon continued.

“That’s how long boy bands last, if you make it, which I believe you will. The best you can do is 3, maybe four albums. Grueling schedules for those five years too, and I mean it, what it was like on x-factor is only the beginning. World touring, half of your time will be spent on planes, trains and automobiles, and the other half will be spent performing or rehearsing. Yes, you will get time off, but not nearly as much as you’d like. The next five years of world-wide fame, getting people from across the globe to know your name and hear your music, and not to mention the profits from record sales, will come at a personal cost. Five years in the public spotlight, little to no personal privacy, and being photographed literally wherever you go.”

The boys are all slack-jawed. They share matching looks of incredulity and shock. Harry figets in his seat, looking at his hands. His eyes unconsciously dart to Louis, trying to gauge his reaction. Louis just stares out the window behind Simon’s desk, his face completely blank. Simon, after taking the temperature of the boys’ reactions, decides to go on.

“I know this isn’t what you expected me to say, but you need to know that I have good reasons for telling you this. I need you to be prepared for what you have signed up for. I need to know that none of you can say that you weren’t warned from the get-go that there will be a price attached to all the fun you’re going to have. I need you to know that while the next five years will not only define your lives and the lives of millions of others, they will be the best five years of your lives. This kind of opportunity does not come around twice. Now, go and record a platinum album.”

The boys smile politely, and get up to leave. Harry gets up last, heads towards the door with the others, then stops, and turns around to face Simon.

“Mr. Cowell?” Harry gulps nervously.

“Yes?” Simon casually looks up from the papers at his desk.

“How… How do you know?”

Simon smiles. “I don’t, but I’ve got a good feeling. Now go, get back to the recording studio.” Simon says with a jovial tilt of the head and a flash of a smile.

Harry stands in the middle of Simon’s office for a moment, soaking in the advice, then, with his lips resoundingly pressed together, rejoins the boys, and they go back to their banter as if nothing happened.

+++++

_Later that week…_

Harry and Louis are in their shared apartment bathroom brushing their teeth in silence. It is 11:37 at night, and they are exhausted from spending all day in the studio. Harry is watching Louis brush his teeth absent-mindedly, paying little attention to the foaming brush in his own mouth, his large hands holding the plastic stick, moving back and forth out of habit more than anything else. He notices the lines of Louis face, his cheekbones, his jawline, and abstractly wonders how anything so beautiful could possibly exist. Then Louis finishes brushing and spits into the sink, making a truly unearthly sound as he hacks the leftover toothpaste out of his mouth and throat. Harry giggles, and remembers what he is doing standing in front of the sink, quickly finishing brushing with small random strokes. Louis stands to the side and faces Harry, hand on one hip.

“What?”

Harry’s mouth is full of toothpaste, but he tries to mumble out a response anyway, only ending with his chin covered in foamy blue toothpaste, which Louis finds hysterically funny, which Harry finds funny, and they both end up laughing in spite of themselves as Harry keeps trying to talk, even though even more toothpaste is getting on his face as he tries to do so.

“okay you dolt, just spit that out, and then you can tell me whatever it is, if its really _that_ necessary.” Louis says, handing Harry a towel. Harry spits into the sink, takes the towel from Louis, and haphazardly wipes his face, missing quite a bit of the remains of a bidaily habit. Harry smiles widely and waves his hands next to his face in a showy fashion.

“All clear?” He says brightly. Louis laughs, and is briefly reminded of his little sisters’ cheeky grins as they stand in mud puddles, their bright faces streaked with brown.

“No, silly. Here, I’ll do it” He grabs the towel from Harry’s hand, and takes a step closer to the taller boy. He delicately wipes the remaining blue foam from Harry’s chin, when Harry starts to speak, with an unseemly air of repressed laughter.

“Lou, do you want to know what I was thinking?” Louis continues dabbing at Harry’s face, and casually replies with eyebrows raised, “Sure Haz, what?”

“I was thinking,” Harry says, “about how someone so beautiful could make such a horrible sound when they…” Harry doesn’t finish, as he dissolves in to a shaking fit of silent laughter. Louis scrunches up his nose and takes the bait.

“Oh Harry Styles, I’m gonna get you for that, you stupid twat!” and lunges for him, but Harry ducks out of the way, running out of the bathroom, laughing maniacally down the hallway.

“NOT IF YOU CAN’T CATCH ME!” He yells tauntingly down the hall to Louis. Louis scrambles after him, his face flushed with the chase. Harry has run into Louis’s bedroom and jumps into the unmade bed, with a wide grin that all but yells “come and get me” as Louis tumbles into the room after him, and unhesitatingly jumping into the bed with him. Louis slides under the covers and straddles Harry, his knees tucked into the younger boy’s waist. They are both flush from the chase, and are giving each other dopey grins. Louis breaks the silence.

“Did you really mean that? you think I’m beautiful?” Louis tilts his head to the side and flutters his eyelashes.

“Yes I do!” Harry retorts, poking Louis in the stomach. Louis grabs his hand, and interlaces his fingers with Harry’s. _What an odd thing_ , he thinks to himself, _that two hands should fit together so well despite being different sizes._

“forever and always?” Louis says, his blue eyes darting to meet Harry’s green ones. Harry nods seriously. “yes, of course. …and about that, I’ve been doing some thinking—”

“Oooer, start the presses!” Louis interrupts, releasing Harry’s hand, and flopping down to lie next to him, their faces centimetres apart, “Our dear Hazza’s been thinkin’!”

Harry’s lips curl, then he plants a quick peck on Louis’s nose. “Shush, I’m being serious. You remember that talk Simon had with us a few days ago? the ‘five years’ one?” Louis bites his lip and nods. Its been hovering on the edge of his mind too, no matter how much its the last thing he wants to think about. Harry sits up, and continues.

“Well, we don’t really know where the next few years are going to go, you know? I want us to hit it big, and I want the world to know our names, everything, all of it. But,” He looks at Louis, “I know it’ll mean nothing without you, and…and management has already gotten on our case about toning it down in public, and—” He stops, feeling the lump in his throat rising. Louis sits up next to him, and puts his arm around Harry’s bare shoulders. “you’re worried we’re not gonna make it?” Louis says in a flat voice, and looks at Harry, his pretty green eyes wide with anguish. Louis looks away, and says in a voice barely over a whisper, “I know. I’ve been thinking the same.” They both sit in silence for a few minutes, simply holding each other, Louis nestled in the crook of Harry’s neck, both unsure of what to say, or how to go on.

Louis breaks the silence. “Five years…” he murmurs. He turns his head to look up at Harry. “Harry, I promise I’ll be yours in five years.” Louis looks earnestly at Harry, who has a slightly puzzled look on his face. “What do you mean Lou?” he says, eyebrows furrowed. Louis explains, his face alight with excitement.

“Look, we both want One Direction to be the biggest thing since…well…michael jackson, but, no, I’m serious Haz, if we want it this bad, we’re going to have to put us on the back burner, for the group. But, come what may, between touring and… and girlfriends, and whatever, we’ll be popstars together, just like we always wanted! and when its all over, we’ll be able to be together wherever we want, on our terms. Haz, whats wrong?”

Harry’s eyes have filled with tears, and he lunges at Louis, taking the older boy in a grasping embrace. Louis instinctively puts his arms around him, and they hold each other, Harry sobbing into Louis’s grey t-shirt, the noise raw and scratching the walls. Louis holds the younger boy, listens to him cry, and feels his chest tighten and his throat become thick. Louis smiles through his watering eyes and cheekily says, though his voice rough and strained from holding the tears in, “Really Haz, I don’t know how someone with such pretty curls could make such an awful sound—” and Harry sobs even harder. Then the tears come, his eyes squeezed shut, the wet droplets silently running down his face, and Louis just holds Harry, wishing for the world to stop turning. _How could I ever deny this boy my love, or refuse it, for any length of time? I want to sing and perform for thousands so badly, and yet how could denying Harry be worth it?_

Louis’s reverie is broken by the words coming out in stuttering gasps between Harry’s sobs. “I….c-c-c-cant…Lou…I j-j-j-ust cant.” Harry pulls away from Louis, and sniffs, wiping his nose and eyes with his wrists, hiccuping as he holds down more sobs. Louis, who thinks that Harry hiccuping with a streaming face is just about the cutest thing he’s ever seen, smiles in spite of himself through his own tears. Harry reaches out to wipe away Louis’s tears with his thumbs, and Louis closes his eyes, exhaling completely. _Why did I even say anything, nothing needed to be said, but—_

“Five years is a long time Lou. Anything could happen.” Harry says as he continues to wipe tears from Louis’s face. _How do I know I, or you, won’t fall for someone else?_ Harry thinks as he looks in the clear blue eyes, now ringed with deep pink, that have come to make him quiver with happiness with a single flick. _Fuck it, he’s worth it, and you know it. Mum knew from the minute she saw us, and she was right. I won’t let you get away tommo…  
_

“I promise.” Harry says, his voice surprisingly steady.

“really Haz? you mean it?” Louis’s face lights up, and his voice gets high and almost cracks, which makes Harry smile.

“Boobear, I promise I’ll be yours in five years, if you want me, no matter what happens to us in those five years.” Louis beams.

“Haz, I promise to be your only man, if you haven’t ditched me for some leggy model, in five years, come what may.” Harry lets the joke slide, and chuckles, grabbing Louis around the waist, and hugging him tight. “Lets get to sleep, long day tomorrow.” Louis murmurs into Harry’s hair. Harry nods, breaks the embrace, flicks off the lights, and climbs into Louis’s bed. He curls around the smaller boy, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces under the duvet. Harry pulls Louis close, inhaling the scent of his hair and neck. _I wish this moment could last for five years…_

+++++

_TO BE CONTINUED in … PART TWO: TWO YEARS LATER…._

**Author's Note:**

> I swear part two is in the works and coming soon-ish :)


End file.
